The United States has intensified pressure on Nicaragua by imposing fresh sanctions on the two sons of the country’s ruling couple, along with several individuals and companies linked to the gold industry.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on April 16 that its Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on five individuals, including Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo, who serves as the Nicaraguan presidential delegate for sports and head of the Communication Citizenship Council, respectively.
Other individuals sanctioned included Nicaragua’s Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Santiago Bermudez Tapia, Anibal Vladimir Matus Buitrago and Lester Matus Tamariz, who were allegedly linked to the sector.
Washington also imposed sanctions on five companies, including Exportadora de Metales SA (EMSA), Grupo Minero Xiloa (Grumixsa), Thomas Metal, Nicaragua XinXin Linze Mineria Group SA and Brother Metal, La Prensa reported.
Illicit financial gains
The fresh sanctions stemmed from the 2025 occupation and the forced seizure by BHMB Mine Nicaragua, a firm established in 2019 using foreign investment from a US-based company.
The Nicaraguan government seized the company and handed it over to the firms Santa Rita Mining and Zhong Fu Development, resulting in an $80 million lawsuit for alleged illegal expropriation at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
The Treasury accused high-ranking government officials of benefiting from Nicaragua’s gold exports, which reached $1.96 billion in 2025, as well as state-owned Empresa Nicaraguense de Minas’ moves to funnel profits to private sector partners and provide “kickbacks” to insiders.
It also alleged that the sanctioned companies were complicit in helping co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo generate revenue through gold and maintain their political control.
“Since 2020, it has restructured the mining sector into a complex network of companies and front men designed to generate foreign currency, launder sanctioned assets and reinforce political control for its own benefit,” it said.
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Washington slams Murillo-Ortega regime
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions reflect Washington’s commitment to safeguard American investments against the Murillo-Ortega regime, which confiscated these assets for its own benefit.
“The United States will not allow the illicit confiscation of American-owned assets and will continue to target revenue streams that empower the corrupt Murillo-Ortega regime,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.
Several lawmakers, including Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez, lauded the Treasury’s sanctions against the administration, which he described as a “cancer in our hemisphere.”
“The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship is a cancer in our hemisphere that survives through corruption and the theft of US property…We must keep cutting off every financial lifeline until freedom is restored for the people of Nicaragua” he said in a post on X.
Escalating pressure across Latin America
In addition, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on April 18 sanctioned Nicaragua’s Vice Minister of the Interior Luis Roberto Cañas under Section 7031(c) for his involvement in gross human rights violations in the Central American country.
The sanction prohibits him from entering the US and coincides with the eighth anniversary of Nicaragua’s April 2018 protests, one of the most violent movements in the country’s recent history, The Latin Times reported.
The civic uprising, often called the April Rebellion, was a peaceful movement against the Murillo-Ortega government, triggered by proposed social security reforms that would have reduced pension benefits.
The protests escalated into a broader movement demanding the couple’s resignation, but the government repressed it by mobilising the national police and armed Sandinista Youth, leaving more than 300 dead and over 2,000 injured.
These sanctions reflect Washington’s increased efforts to pressure Nicaragua politically and economically, while underscoring its stance that human rights violations will have repercussions.
The move also comes amid escalating US pressure on Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, signalling that Nicaragua is part of Washington’s broader push targeting governments viewed as hostile to Trump.
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Daniel Ortega remains defiant
In response, Daniel Ortega sharply criticised Washington for targeting his children over their involvement in the gold industry and denounced the US on other key issues in a recent speech.
“They are running out of people to sanction,” he briefly said, as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
The 80-year-old also accused US counterpart Donald Trump of being “mentally unstable” over his ongoing military offensive against Iran, which has pushed global oil prices higher and sparked fears of a wider war.
“The war being waged in the way the current US president is waging, it is typical of someone who has lost their mind and thinks they can do whatever they want, any kind of cruelty,” he said.
He further criticised Trump for posting an artificial intelligence-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on his Truth Social platform, urging Americans to hold him accountable.
Ortega has ruled Nicaragua for 19 consecutive years since returning to power in 2007, with his wife serving as vice president since 2017 and elevated to co-president in 2025, cementing the family’s grip on power.
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